The university has been known by many names during its history. Due to its long history of Jewish, Polish and Russian influence or rule, the city portion of its name is rendered as Vilna (Russian), Wilna (German) or Wilno (Polish), in addition to the modern Lithuanian Vilnius (see History of Vilnius).

1579–1782: Alma Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Iesu.[2] The Latin name is rendered into English as Jesuit Academy, Jesuit College, or Academy of Vilnius (Vilna/Wilna/Wilno).[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

A bronze door at the Vilnius University Library commemorates the first Lithuanian book.

In 1568, the Lithuanian nobility[23] asked the Jesuits to create an institution of higher learning either in Vilnius or Kaunas. The following year Walerian Protasewicz, the bishop of Vilnius, purchased several buildings in the city center and established the Vilnian Academy (Almae Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Jesu). Initially, the academy had three divisions: humanities, philosophy, and theology. The curriculum at the college and later at the academy was taught in Latin.[24][25] At the beginning of the 17th century there are records about special groups that taught Lithuanian-speaking students Latin, most probably using Konstantinas Sirvydas' compiled dictionary.[26] The first students were enrolled into the Academy in 1570. A library at the college was established in the same year, and Sigismund II Augustus donated 2500 books to the new college.[23] In its first year of existence the college enrolled 160 students.[23]

The academy's growth continued until the 17th century. The following era, known as The Deluge, led to a dramatic drop in the number of students who matriculated and in the quality of its programs. In the middle of the 18th century, education authorities tried to restore the academy. This led to the foundation of the first observatory in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the fourth such professional facility in Europe), in 1753, by Tomasz Żebrowski. The Commission of National Education (Polish: Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world's first ministry of education, took control of the academy in 1773, and transformed it into a modern University. The language of instruction (as everywhere in the commonwealth's higher education institutions) changed from Latin to Polish.[8][27][28] Thanks to the rector of the academy, Marcin Poczobutt-Odlanicki, the academy was granted the status of "Principal School" (Polish: Szkoła Główna) in 1783. The commission, the secular authority governing the academy after the dissolution of the Jesuit order, drew up a new statute. The school was named Academia et Universitas Vilnensis.

Two of the faculties were turned into separate schools: the Medical and Surgical Academy (Akademia Medyko-Chirurgiczna) and the Roman Catholic Academy (Rzymsko-Katolicka Akademia Duchowna), but those were soon banned as well. The repression that followed the failed uprising included banning the Polish and Lithuanian languages; all education in those languages was halted. Finally, most of the property of the university was confiscated and sent to Russia (mostly to St. Petersburg).

The university quickly recovered and gained international prestige, largely because of the presence of notable scientists such as Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Zdziechowski, and Henryk Niewodniczański. Among the students of the university at that time was future Nobel prize winner Czesław Miłosz. The university grew quickly, thanks to government grants and private donations. Its library contained 600,000 volumes, including historic and cartographic items which are still in its possession.[30]

In 1938 the university had:

7 institutes

123 professors

104 scientific units (including two hospitals)

3110 students

The university's international students included 212 Russians, 94 Belarusians, 85 Lithuanians, 28 Ukrainians and 13 Germans. Anti-Semitism increased during the 1930s and a system of ghetto benches, in which Jewish students were required to sit in separate areas, was instituted at the university.[31] Violence erupted; the university was closed for two weeks during January 1937.[31] In February Jewish students were denied entrance to its grounds.[31] The faculty was then authorized to decide on an individual basis whether the segregation should be observed in their classrooms and expel those students who would not comply.[31] 54 Jewish students were expelled but were allowed to return the next day under a compromise in which in addition to Jewish students, Lithuanian, Belarussian, and "Polish democratic" students were to be seated separately.[31] Rector of the university, Władysław Marian Jakowicki, resigned his position in protest over the introduction of the ghetto benches.[32]

Following the Invasion of Poland (1939) the university continued its operations. The city was soon occupied by the Soviet Union. Most of the professors returned after the hostilities ended, and the faculties reopened on October 1, 1939. On October 28, Vilnius was transferred to Lithuania which considered the previous eighteen years as an occupation by Poland of its capital.[33] The university was closed on December 15, 1939 by the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania.[21] All the faculty, staff, and its approximately 3,000 students dismissed.[34] Students were ordered to leave the dormitories; 600 ended in a refugee camp.[21] Professors had to leave their university flats. Following the Lithuanization policies, in its place a new university, named Vilniaus Universitetas, was created. Its faculty came from the Kaunas University.[21] The new charter specified that Vilnius University was to be governed according to the statute of the Vytautas Magnus University of Kaunas, and that Lithuanian language programs and faculties would be established. Lithuanian was named as the official language of the university.[21] A new academic term started on 22 January; only 13 of the new students had former Polish citizenship.[21]

The city was occupied by Germany in 1941, and all institutions of higher education for Poles were closed. From 1940 until September 1944, under Lithuanian professor and activist Mykolas Biržiška, the University of Vilnius was open for Lithuanian students under supervision of the German occupation authorities.[36] In 1944, many of Polish students took part in Operation Ostra Brama. The majority of them were later arrested by the NKVD and suffered repressions from their participation in the Armia Krajowa resistance.

Petras Repšys’ fresco "The Seasons of the Year" (painted in 1976-1984) with motifs from Baltic mythology at the Centre of Lithuanian Studies.

Educated Poles were transferred to People's Republic of Poland after World War II under the guidance of State Repatriation Office. As the result many of former students and professors of Stefan Batory joined universities in Poland. To keep contact with each other, the professors decided to transfer whole faculties. After 1945, most of the mathematicians, humanists and biologists joined the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, while a number of the medical faculty formed the core of the newly founded Medical University of Gdańsk. The Toruń university is often considered to be the successor to the Polish traditions of the Stefan Batory University.

In 1955[37] the University was named after Vincas Kapsukas. After it had been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1971 and the Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1979, its full name until 1990 was Vilnius Order of the Red Banner of Labour and Order of Friendship of Peoples V. Kapsukas State University.[37] Though restrained by the Soviet system, Vilnius University grew and gained significance and developed its own, Lithuanian identity. Vilnius University began to free itself from Soviet ideology in 1988, thanks to the policy of glasnost.

Vilnius University is currently ranked 501-550 among World top universities by 2012/13 QS World University Rankings [1]. In 2014 Vilnius University was declared as the best and the biggest university in Lithuania.[41]

"Citizens and governance in a knowledge-based society: Social Inequality and Why It Matters for the Economic and Democratic Development of Europe and Its Citizens. Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective (EUREQUAL)." Doc. A. Poviliūnas (Faculty of Philosophy). 2006-2009.

In the Erasmus programme for student exchange, Vilnius University cooperates with more than 370 universities in 29 countries.[44]

Vilnius University has a bilateral agreement with CREPUQ (the Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities). Students from Quebec Universities, which have completed at least one year of full-time study at their home university and meet all specific requirements set down by the home university and host university may go for one or two semesters studies to Vilnius University.

^Joint Committee on Slavic Studies; American Council of Learned Societies; Joint Committee on Slavic and East European Studies; Social Science Research Council (U.S.), American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (1955). The Current digest of the Soviet Press. American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. Retrieved 9 March 2011.Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)